Court Dismiss Ebonyi Speaker and other Lawmakers

Hon. Francis Nwifuru, the Speaker of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly, was dismissed by a Federal High Court in Abuja on Tuesday.

While delivering his ruling on Tuesday, Justice Inyang Ekwo ordered the Speaker and other members who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party in 2020 following the switching of state Governor David Umahi to the All Progressives Congress to forfeit their seats.

Ekwo also ruled that all legislators who were appointed on the basis of the PDP and switched to APC should resign their seats.

All salary and allowances provided to parliamentarians from the time of their defection until now should be surrendered to the government funds, according to the Judge.

This follows the court’s dismissal of Ebonyi State Governor David Umahi and his Deputy, Dr. Eric Kelechi Igwe, for switching sides to the APC.

The Judge found that the amount of 393, 042 votes Umahi received during the gubernatorial election in Ebonyi state on March 9, 2019 belongs to the PDP and could not be shifted to the APC.

He requested that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) replace them with a PDP member right away.

Justice Inyang Ekwo compelled Umahi and his deputy to quit their positions immediately.